Why on Facebook? I’ve noticed a change lately. Facebook
is the best place to build lists like these. Why?

1. Everyone is on Facebook. It is very rare that
I can’t find a startup. Out of the 72 Y Combinator startups
almost all of them were on Facebook.
2. The list-building facility in Facebook is better than
Twitter or Google+. Twitter limits me to 500 things on
each list. Facebook doesn’t. Plus, if you subscribe to lists they
actually put some items from each list onto your main feed.
Twitter doesn’t do anything when you follow a list. Finally, I
haven’t hit a list limit yet on Facebook, where on Twitter I’m
limited to 20 lists.

Anyway, that’s a long way of getting around to some things I’ve
noticed that Startups could improve on when launching their
companies (I’ll be at Techcrunch Disrupt with our awesome new video
studio thanks to New Tek’s Tricaster to meet the latest startups
launching. If you have a startup that’s launching there, make
sure you email me and get on our calendar. scobleizer@gmail.com.
If you want to go I arranged a $100 discount, use the
Scobledsf12 code).

1. Get a name that’s searchable on ALL services.
It’s amazing that about 10% of startups couldn’t be found on
Facebook because they had common names or names that weren’t
searchable.
2. Make sure a description of your business is on your
Facebook page. Quite a few didn’t have a
description.
3. Make sure you link to your website. It’s
amazing to me to see how many businesses don’t link back to their
main website.
4. Make sure there’s a call to action on your Facebook
page “Download our app today and you’ll get $10 off” for
instance. Very few startups do this. Ask for the sale! (Or the
download or the click).
5. Use photos and videos often. The best
startups post lots of imagery and videos. The worst ones? Text
only. This is one reason why I take photos, so I’ll have some to
use on my posts in the future (the photo above I shot at the iPad
2 launch).

While I’m thinking of Techcrunch Disrupt, here’s some ideas for
how you can use your Facebook page to scale out your conference
investment (it is expensive).

1. Post photos of your staff uniforms BEFORE the
event. You do have a staff T shirt, right? Y Combinator
does this so well. Every company at its demo day last week had
its employees wearing a company T-shirt.
2. Tease us with what you are going to be doing.
For instance, at our booth we’ll be using a new piece of video
gear. You all will want to see it. That’s a tease. If you have a
new UI, show us a piece of it, and say “you can see more at our
booth.”
3. Make a list of competitors who will be disrupted by
you. You do have competitors, right? You are better,
right? If not, why are you going to Disrupt? Post a blog post
about them and what makes you different. Heck, post a blog post
about what makes THEM better than YOU! That will get attention
and demonstrate you have real passion and credibility about the
marketplace you serve.
4. Don’t listen to Techcrunch’s rules. They tell
companies not to disclose what they are doing to journalists
ahead of time. This is risky, yes. If one of those journalists
leak before you get on stage you might get kicked out of the
show. So, pick some journalists you trust, and give them a sneak
peak, but embargo them. They will have a deeper story to augment
the few minutes you get on stage. Companies that don’t take this
risk really are lame and really ruin their “coming out” chances
for huge and deep coverage. Remember, great companies are built,
not launched.
5. Make sure your signage explains what you do quickly
and efficiently. It’s amazing when I walk through an
expo hall and can’t figure out what a company does just by
walking past its booth. On Y Combinator’s brochure every company
was described in four words or less. BufferBox simply said “Drop
boxes for packages.” Vastrm says “Warby Parker for shirts.”
Instacart says “Groceries delivered fast.” Everyday.me says
“Personal timeline.” Every company figured out what it was and
shrunk it down to four words or less. Everyone. You have no
excuses.
6. Have a “schtick” that gets people to engage.
Some companies have mini-golf contests. Others have funny people
presenting. Others just have a fun contest. But you gotta find a
way to stand out above the noise of expo halls.
7. Hand out some awesome swag. Word gets around
that your booth is a must visit. Plus, even if they aren’t
customers, maybe a few of the influencers will take photos of
your swag and post them around.